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I was lurking the four local airlines – Cebu Pacific, Air Phil, Sea Air and Zest Air for the cheapest air fare from Manila to Kalibo or Caticlan. We already decided on the date which is April 6 to 9 which falls on the super peak season being Holy Friday, Black Saturday, Easter Sunday and Valor Day (Araw ng Kagitingan). I even checked other options such as the RORO (land/ sea) and the ferry (sea), but my mom wasn’t too keen on those.

The Manila to Caticlan airfares from Cebu Pacific and Sea Air are already ranging from P7,000 to P8,000, so these two are also out of the options.

Our budget for airfare was P3,500 roundtrip, so when I saw P3,300 tickets on Zest Air, I want to buy it asap. But I guess being a blogger, I had to check the reviews of other bloggers and more were on the negative side. So I checked Air Phil and it was around P4,500, but I saw that the next day departure April 10 has a lower rate so I tried that combination and it gave me P3,600 rate. I called my cousin and ask if she can take a 1 day leave (April 10 is already a working day) and once she said ok, I started booking it. I was booking for 6 pax but it was giving me higher rate, around P4,000 so I tried booking for 3pax and it gave me the P3,600 again. I tried until I was able to book 5 pax at P3,600 and 1 pax at P3,900. Still it was much lesser than Cebu Pacific and Sea Air rate and the reviews are comparatively favorable than Zest Air.

Whew! One down (air tickets) or so I thought, because the next day my Uncle was saying he don’t want to travel on Holy Friday. What?! I tried to keep my patience and respect his religious beliefs, so I asked my cousin (in Phils) to check the rebooking fee and additional costs (fare difference, etc). The rebooking fee alone is P2,600, I told her it would be better to cancel the tickets (for my Uncle and Aunt) and buy a new one the next day. But eventually she was able to convince her father that it would be a big hassle and added costs if he insisted to change the flight schedule. He just bulged in when she told him that it’s only 45 mins flight and we would go to Kalibo Cathedral as soon as we plane landed. We haven’t told him yet about the van and boat ride, shhh.

I’ve been giving values here but I know we really haven’t save anything or maybe incurred more expenses. Why?

Cebu Pacific or Sea Air (Manila to Caticlan) – P8,000

Air Phil (Manila to Kalibo) – P3,600
Van fare from Kalibo to Caticlan (vv)– P1,500
1 day additional hotel/ resort accommodation – P1,800
Total – P6,900

I didn’t include the boat fare from Caticlan to Bora, the tricycle and other expenses because those will be constant to all.

Almost the same price right, but we got to stay 1 day more! Yey!

I could have done more actual savings given a different scenario (off peak season, transport restrictions, etc), still I think I did well on this one (and I’m doing all the planning and booking online).